Method of making articles from pulp and apparatus for practicing the method



'W. H. DRAKE METHOD OF MAKING ARTICLES FROM PULP AND APPARATUS FOR PRACTICING THE METHOD Filed Nov. 14, 1918 AIR Patented Dec. 9, 1924.

UNITED STATES 1,518,968 PATENT OFFICE.

WALTER HENRY DRAKE, OF CLEVELAND, OHIO.

METHOD OF MAKING ARTICLES FROM PULP AND APPARATUS FOE PRACTICING THE METHOD.

Application filed November 14, 1918. Serial No. 262,575.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, WALTER I-I. DRAKE, a citizen of the United States, residing at Cleveland, inthe county of Cuyahoga and State of Ohio, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Methods of Making Articles from Pulp and Apparatus for Practicing the Method; and I do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and

exact description of the invention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same.

This invention relates to methods of making articles from pulp and apparatus for practicing the method and it hasfor an object to provide an apparatus which generically speaking admits pulp from the bottom of the mold, forcing it upwardly within the mold. Said mold is constructed of foraminous material through which the watery carriage of the pulp is expelled, leaving the pulp adhering to the foraminous walls of the mold after which the heating and drying fluid is admitted for the purpose of completing the expulsion of the water and partially drying and compacting the adhering pulp.

The present application is a departure from the disclosure of application Serial Number 177,580, filed June 28, 1917, wherein the pulp was admitted from the top and through a duct extending toward the bottom of the mold; in the present case providing for the admission of the pulpfrom the bottom and forcing it upwardly.

It is well known that when pulp is admitted'in a mass or any considerable volume the tendency of the pulp containedin the watery fluid carriage is to settle by gravity and to deposit against the lower part of the container. In the present instance the container being a mold of foraminous material pulp simply introduced'therein would have a tendency to settle to the bottom of the container. In the present instance the admission of the pulp as a fluid from the bots tom of the container tends to agitate the pulp within the mold forcin the pulpy material upwardly in the mold preventing its settling by gravit to the bottom of the mold whereby-the pu pcontained in the carriage is brought into contact substantially uniformly with all portions of the mold suram anda substantially uniform sheet of pulp deposited upon the inner walls of such foraminous mold.

The method of introducing the pulp into the bottom of the mold may be carried out in apparatuses of yarious types, it being understood that the'type illustrated in the appended drawing "is only a generic representation of a means by which the method may be carried into practice.

In the drawings,

Figure 1 is a view of the generic apparatus taken in vertical section, diametrically through the mold and through the mold operating means.

Figure 2. is a horizontal sectional View taken on line 22 of Figure 1 and showing line 11 as the section of Figure 1.

Figure 3 is a view of the cams employed to operate the mold sections and shown on line 3-3 of Figures 1 and 2.

Like characters of reference indicate corresponding parts throughout the several views.

The pulp from which the article is to be manufactured is stored'in any convenient receptacle as the tank 10 with a valved conduit 11 leading therefrom. The flow is /c ntrolled through this conduit 11 by meairsof the valve 12 and an air pipe 13 is introduced into the conduit 11 controlled by the valve 14. I

The term air is herein employed it bding understood however that }any' fluid for expelling the water and drying the pulp may be employed as for instance steam or other heating and drying fluid.

Atsome desired point the mold is erected comprising the sections 15 and 16 and the cover member 17. The pulp is introduced into this mold by means of a bend formed in the conduit 11 extending upwardly through the base 18, the mold being held in engagement with such base by the mechanism hereinafter described. The several mold sections 15, 16 and 17 are constructed of wire gauze or other foraminous material. The present invention not being limited in any manner to the material from which such mold is constructed.

Pulp, suspended in a carriage, is introduced into this mold from the tank 10 until a sutficient amount of pulp has been introduced to produce the thickness of wall required for the article, When such an amount of pulp has been introduced the valve 10 is n'ianipulated and the flow of pulp discontinued. If the amount of pulp contained in the amount of carriage which will once fill the mold is not sufficient for the purpose the flow is continued and by the pressure of the pulp head itself the watery carriage is expelled from the foraminous material leaving the pulp adhering. When a sufficient amount of pulp has been introduced air or other heating and drying fluid is admitted to the pipe 11 by the manipulation of the valve 14 expelling the fluid carriage from the mold leaving the pulp adhering as a substantially uniform sheet on the interior of the mold Wall. The molding of the article is thus completed as a unitary structure.

It is now necessary to remove this unitarystructure from the mold for which purpose it is necessary to divide the several parts of the mold.

The division of the several'parts of the mold may be accomplished in any approved manner, here shown as each of said parts being mounted respectively upon levers 19, 20 and 21. The levers 19, 20 and 21 are fulcrumed upon any approved supporting member as the upright 22 and cross head 23 so that the said several mold sections may wing from the position shown in full line to the position shown in dotted lines where by also the several mold sections are thus removed from engagement with already molded article contained within such mold.

As the molded articles have a slight tendency to adhere to the foraminous walls of the mold by reason of the fibers of the pulp entering into interstices of the foraminous walls there is a slight tendency to adhere to the :mold sections.. as the mold sections are opened. For this purpose it is desirable that the cams be soarranged that the cover section 17 be first removed from the molded structure following which the side members 15 and 16 are swung upon their pivots and by reason of the arrangement of the fulcrums of said levers the walls of themold adjacent to the pivot have a slightly outward movement giving a kick to the molded structure dislodging it from the base 18.

For the purpose of swinging the several levers 19, 20 and 21- upon their several fulv erums any approved operating mechanism may be employed. As shown in the drawings, intergea-red pinions 24, 25 and 26, re-

spectively engage with levers 19, 20 and 21.

These several pinions 24, 25 and 26 are operated in any approved manner, as for instance, b the use of the crank 27 whereby all of sald mold sections 15, 16 and 17, are simultaneously or in their proper timed relation swung upon the fulcrums of their carrying levers. The means of such swinging is that each of said gears 24, 25 and',26 are provided with cam grooves 28, 29 and 30,

respectively, with the ends of the levers enby the use of roller extremities indicated A complete cycle of operation therefore would be; commencing with the apparatus in the position shown at full lines admitting the pulp to the mold followed by the admission of air as hereinbefore described and after the discontinuance of the flow of pulp and air manipulating the crank 27 throwing the mold sections to open position and kicking the molded container off of the base 18 whereupon the continued rotation of the crank 27 will again close the mold section to closed position the cycle of operation being thereby completed.

It is to be understood that the present invention is directed to the admission of the pulp and drying fluid from the bottom of the mold to produce the desired form of agitation to overcome the tendency of the pulp to settle by gravity within the mold and that the manner of constructing and operating the mold sections is subsidiary to the generic idea of introducing the pulp and drying fluid from the bottom of the mold. It is obvious that this agitation will be in the form of ebullition when the air from'the pipe 13 has been admitted by actuation of valve 14 as it will act upon the top of the body of pulp remaining in the conduit, forcing it upwardly into the pulp already contained in the mold to lift and ebullite that body, which lifting and ebullition will be continued after the conduit is evacuated and until the carriage has been wholly expelled and, if continued for s'uflicient time. the molded article will be wholly dried.

What is claimed is:

1. The method of producing articles from pulp consisting in introducing pulp suspended in a watery carriage into the bottom of and to fill a mold consisting of separable foraminous sections, continuing the inflow under suflicient pressure to produce ebullition in the mold and overcome the tendency of the pulp fibers to separate from the carriage and deposit by" gravity, discontinuing the flow of pulp when the deposit has reached the required thickness and intro ducing through the same inlet a drying fluid to continue the ebullition and expel the remaining watery carriage and compact and dry the deposit and separating the sections to discharge the molded article.

2. The method of producing articles from ebullition in the mold and overcome the tendency of the pulp fibers to separate from the carriage and deposit by gravity, discontinuing the flow of pulp when the deposit has reached the appropriate thickness and introducing throu h the same inlet a drying fluid to form liber carrying bubbles and expel the remaining Watery carriage and compact and dry the deposit and separating the sections to discharge the molded article.

3. The method of molding articles from pulp consisting in conducting fluent pulp downwardly by gravity from an elevated tank through a conduit and introducing it into the bottom of a mold comprising separable foraminous units. continuing the flow b gravity until a desiderative deposit of fillers has been attained over the entire foraminous surface, introducing an anhydrous fluid under pressure into the conduit to force the contained pulp into the mold to fill the foramins of the deposit. continuing the flow of anhydrous fluid to expel introducing an anhydrous fluid under pres- 5. An apparatus for molding articles from pulp comprising a mold embodying separable foraminous units, a conduit communicating with the mold, means to force fluent pulp through the conduit under pressure into the mold, means to introduce anhydrous fluid under pressure into the con- 7. An apparatus for molding articles from pulp comprising a mold composed of separable units, means to introduce pulp into the mold to deposit the desiderative article as a sheet uponthe inner surface thereof, means to separate the units, and means to exert stress upon the article later ally relative to its support, tending to propel it from situ between the separated units.

8. An apparatus for. molding articles from pulp comprising a mold composed of separable units, means to introduce pulp into the mold to deposit the desiderative article as a sheet upon the inner surface thereof, means to separate the units, and means .to exert stress upon the exterior of the article laterally relative to its support,

tending to propel it from situ between the separated units. In testimony whereof I aflix my signature.

WALTER HENRY DRAKE. 

